Hi all,
I have a basic understanding of how discovery works, with most of my experience coming from the ServiceNow side.
For network device discovery, our network team has expressed concerns about using SNMP for discovery, considering it outdated and less secure. They have already or in the process of phasing out SNMP on their devices and are recommending the use of REST APIs for individual devices, as they believe this approach provides richer CMDB data compared to SNMP.
When I did my research I found that most of these devices do not have a service graph connector so we would have to rely on custom API's.
Based on my understanding, I have a few concerns (please correct me if I’m mistaken):
- We would need to build and maintain custom integrations.
- We would need to perform data mapping from the custom APIs to CMDB tables.
- This approach could limit our ability to use Service Mapping in the future, since Service Mapping depends on Horizontal Discovery.
Additionally, when reviewing security considerations with AI chatbots like ChatGPT/Claude, I found that SNMP does not appear to be inherently insecure—especially when using SNMPv3, where security depends on proper implementation.
Given this, are we comfortable moving forward with custom integrations in this scenario?
Thanks,
Ravish
